“I don’t do treatment. I hate training rooms.”- Portland’s Raymond Felton, when asked what kind of treatment he’d been receiving on his Achilles injury.

That’s got to be a contender for Quote of the Year, no?

“Either that or blow it in the club.”- Wizards’ rookie Chris Singleton, on why he spent $10,000 on lottery tickets.

Yeah, we can all relate to that….

“The only reason I’m in the NBA is because of God. It’s nothing that I did. If you look at the statistics, it’s not very common for a 6-8 white guy from Reno, Nevada, to be here. This is an opportunity for me and I’m going to use it to glorify God.”- Portland’s Luke Babbitt.

Um….I won’t say it.

“I usually go with my mom. It’s good to take care of your feet. I don’t get manicures, just the feet.”- Washington’s Andray Blatche, actually admitting that he goes and gets pedicures with his mum.

“Duncan doesn’t let me say a word. (Duncan’s) been a thorn in my side for 15 years and I don’t know how much longer I can take it.”- San Antonio coach Greg Popovich on Tim Duncan.

He’s a cack.

“Did you ask me that last night? Say whatever you want. It’s transition D. It’s making shots. Don’t turn it over. It’s all bull—-. Have more points than they do, that’s the key. Just make it up and say I said it. I don’t care.”- Popovich again, in response to a question about the “keys to the game”.

Never change Pop.

“I can’t make wine out of water.”- Portland’s Kurt Thomas, when asked if he is helping Hasheem Thabeet improve his game.

True.

“He’s had a tough cast down there. I don’t want to put anybody down, but he’s not playing with the smartest guys.”- New Jersey’s Deron Williams, on John Wall’s plight in Washington.

D-Will nails it, as usual. But as you’ll see further down, Wall isn’t the brightest spark either.

“It’s like going to war with wet gunpowder.”- Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson, on what it’s like trying to rely on Lamar Odom.

I always thought that Odom was a flake and this whole episode proved it.

“We hope it’s addition by subtraction. Just put him in the Tariq Abdul-Wahad category and move on.”- Mavs owner Mark Cuban on the Lamar Odom saga. Abdul-Wahad played a total of 18 games for the Mavericks after being acquired in a blockbuster trade from the Denver Nuggets in 2002. Abdul-Wahad was banished from the team, but he remained on the Mavs’ payroll for five seasons.

They’re clearly pissed, and rightfully so. I would be too if I’d just paid a guy $8 million for jack.

“The only thing I could probably say that I could have done better is probably just keep my mouth shut more.”- Orlando’s Dwight Howard, on what he could have done differently.

Ya think?

“My kids have been vetted; the players have seen them. They’re probably more competent than most of the people on my staff.”- Billy Hunter, executive director of the players’ union, on the recent nepotism charge – he seemingly has half his family on the payroll.

Oh, Billy.

“It’s not a bad shot until you miss it.”- Washington’s Jordan Crawford.

Spoken like a true chucker.

“I didn’t think it was going to be that steep. That’s a whole month’s check for me. I probably won’t have cable in a couple days.”- The Mavs’ Delonte West, after receiving a $25,000 fine for giving Gordon Hayward a ‘wet willy’.

“I can’t really say what I want to say because I’m on TV… Incredible talent, but I think teams sometimes should be tougher on the younger guys. What he brought to Sacramento was trouble in the locker room and that doesn’t take you nowhere.”- Former King Andres Nocioni on Tyreke Evans.

Ouch. That may explain a few things.

“I think inevitably I’ll be coaching some day, I just don’t know when. I think that’s just inevitable. Or manager. I got some people knock on my door to start coaching, but I’ve just haven’t opened it yet. You know, next year I think I might take a look and see who’s knocking.”- TNT analyst Kenny Smith.

I don’t like this guy and this smug statement is a pretty good indication why.

“This is the most surprising thing that has happened to me in basketball. I never been fired before for basketball reasons. This is the first time. When I was in Toronto, I was trying to buy a team and I left. When I was in Indiana, Larry Bird told me that he liked what I was doing but he was closer to Rick Carlisle. The whole thing in New York was crazy. This is the first time someone told me that I was being fired for basketball reasons.”- Isiah Thomas, fired as coach at Florida International University. During his three seasons in charge he went 26-65.

If this clown gets another job in basketball, then the world really has gone mad.

“I can adapt to any role, but I don’t want to get comfortable in a reserve role. The reserve role is what the coach wanted, but that’s not really my plans for the future. I see myself as a starter.”- Minnesota’s Michael Beasley.

You’re dreamin’ buddy.

“No … I didn’t think I had a disadvantage. I just think that, instead of working out more, I did more of playing in charity events and summer leagues, when I should have been working out more. That’s the only thing I think I should have done differently.”- Washington’s John Wall, when asked if he felt like he was at a disadvantage this year, being a young player with no training camp etc.

That’s a tad concerning.

“I couldn’t decide between the windmill or the 360. So I ended up going with the one-handed power slam.”- The Spurs’ Matt Bonner, describing a recent break-away dunk.

Yeah, I often have the same dilemma.

“I was a medium-level juvenile delinquent from Newark who always dreamed about doing a movie. Someone said, “Hey, here’s $7 million, come in and do this genie movie. What am I going to say, no?”- Shaquille O’Neal on why he decided to do the horrible 1996 basketball movie called ‘Kazaam’.

Fair call.

“I feel like I’m most definitely in my prime. You’re going to look up one day and say, ‘Sweet Lew’ is back.”- Washington’s Rashard Lewis, who, in case you’re wondering, is still in the league.

Delusional.

“He’s babied. He’s the poster child of the league. He sells tickets, but he’s babied. Bottom line. [By] the refs, the league – period. He gets away with [everything]. He taunts players. Nothing is done. He’s babied. [Griffin is] in L.A. where actors belong. He’s an actor, so of course he would say that.”- Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins on Blake Griffin.

I like the fact that he’s not afraid to call a guy out (especially one as good as Griffin) and start up a grudge match.

“I mean this in the nicest possible way, you have to consider the source. If this is somebody that has been in the league a long time and really knows the ins and outs of the game and has a great reputation for carrying himself the right way then it’s something I would look at and see how I rubbed this guy the wrong way. But someone like that, you just keep going.”- Blake Griffin responds.

Pretty much the perfect response.

”Let the best man win. If he wins, I will crush him in the kickboxing throwdown.”- New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, on the tussle that is likely to ensue over the services of Deron Williams this offseason between himself and Mark Cuban.

Make it happen.

“It’s interesting to me to hear people talk after a game like that, that I’m done and all that stuff. The amount of idiots that live out here, after 16 years, is baffling to me. I guess people just get dumber over the years. We’re all surrounded by idiots.”- The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant on his critics.

Yeah, how dare anyone criticize Kobe Bryant.

“You know, I read some of your pathetic articles and some of your lousy analysis. It’s opinion. I mean, obviously, you don’t know what drive is. We thank y’all for those articles. Appreciate it. Because it lit a fire under us.” – Boston’s Kevin Garnett addresses a media scrum.

What’s with these guys? Us bloggers know what we’re talking about…

“I don’t know, I don’t take part in the huddles. I’m resting. Getting my Zen on.”- The Lakers’ Andrew Bynum, when asked what was said in a huddle.

Grow up.

“It’s been a barnburner of a season.”- NBA commissioner David Stern.

He forces a ridiculous schedule down ours and the players’ throats that clearly compromises the game, and he’s got a nerve to say this? The height of arrogance.

“Offensively, we could get whatever we wanted to, but defensively, that was a problem. (The Warriors) don’t really have anything to play for, so they were just throwing up shots and making bad shots because they have no conscience right now.”- The Grizzles’ Marc gasol.

Marc, how dare you accuse the Warriors of tanking. But seriously, love his honesty.

“It’s a decision he made for himself. I really have no comment on it. He did what was best for him. I respect that. I’m still friends with him. Oh yeah, it definitely would have changed things. I’ve already made it known that if he would have come I probably would have stayed…..I didn’t ask to be here. I got traded. I didn’t come here being a free agent. This is the first time that I’m a free agent in my career.”- Deron Williams when asked about Dwight Howard staying in Orlando.

He’s outta there.

“I played against him first time for, I spent 50 seconds on the court, actually 50 seconds against Shaq. So, at one point he was posting me up and I was thinking ‘Oh, I got him. I got him.’ And I pictured myself, you know, blocking him. You know, I pictured myself being on the front page of all newspapers and everything. I was already so hyped, like I was thinking how I’m going to tell it to my friends. And then he dunked on me.”- Indiana’s Kyrylo Fesenko, on the first time he guarded his idol, Shaquille O’Neal.

Nice recap.

“It makes no sense to me why so many good scorers can’t defend. Like Lou Williams. He’s one of the toughest guys to guard in the league, but he can’t guard anybody. I don’t get that.”- Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala.

Way to throw your teammate under the bus, Iggy.

“No one throws any punches out there. NBA guys? We are not about that. It’s all WWE to us. We’re fake tough guys. No one throws any real punches.”- The Mavs’ Brendan Haywood, when being asked about his supposed “double-punch” on Dwight Howard.

I like the admission.

“We’ve got problems here. We have a lot of guys that don’t care. On a basketball team, when you have a bunch of guys who don’t care, it’s tough to win games. We’re going to keep getting [losses] here until we get players that care about winning, about the team, about the fans.”- Minnesota’s J.J. Barea.

For mine the stench in this organisation is wafting pretty strong from the likes of Beasley, Randolph, Milicic and the GM Kahn, so getting rid of these guys would be a start.

“You know I love the guy, think he’s brilliant, but he’s around people who don’t have a clue. And they won’t challenge him. And the more you challenge him, the more you get from him. I was sick about it. I haven’t spoken to him since. I don’t like seeing what’s going on. When I was able to visit with him and pick his brain, he knows, but he’s got people around him that just make you sick. And it was not comfortable. It was almost like there were spies wondering what you were doing and getting back to him. I should have spent more time face to face with Michael because I do see the passion. I think he’s hurt right now. We all make bad decisions. This draft thing is not a perfect science, but when I talk to him about players, you know strengths and weaknesses, what we need to do to be successful, he’s right on point. But he has all these other people that will get in the way, and you can’t do it like that.” - Larry Brown again, on Michael Jordan and his time as Bobcats’ coach.

I’m not inclined to believe the validity of everything that comes out of his mouth because he’s prone to overreacting (see the comment above), but the numerous accounts of Michael Jordan-led ineptitude in Charlotte are starting to add up.

“This was going to be a trying year — we knew that. But did we want to chase the most Ping-Pong balls (in the May 30 draft lottery)? No way.”- Bobcats’ owner Michale Jordan.

C’mon Mike, we’re not stupid.

“The one thing about players today is that they’re very sensitive, and very fragile. They didn’t grow up with tough coaches. You know, I had my ass kicked since I was six. It’s a different time, and so I treat this team very much with kid gloves. I really do, and I’m still looked at as an ogre. It’s terrible, I mean, it’s hard. It really is hard.” he said. “I honestly find myself during the games looking at the [assistant coaches and asking], ‘Was I alright with those guys during that timeout? Did I hurt anybody’s feelings? Was I OK?’… ‘Coach, you’re fine, you’re fine’… I said ‘OK, OK, I just wanted to make sure I didn’t hurt anybody’s feelings.’ That’s the sensitivity, and the younger the guys, it seems like the more sensitive. And that’s what you’re wrestling with.”- Philadelphia coach Doug Collins.